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Daniel R Mathews

The Demons of Plainville

Synopsis

Some true stories read like fiction, but for those who have to personally live through the experiences, the nightmare is vividly real. Daniel R. Mathews digs into the darkness of his past with his haunting memoir, The Demons of Plainville.
As a child, Daniel struggles to find his footing in an upside-down world. His mother is mentally ill and addicted to drugs; she performs black masses to summon demons, is physically abusive, and plays brutal mind games that make him doubt his sanity and despair of ever making sense of life or himself. Even his father beats Daniel after “rescuing” him from his mother. Thanks to a few unexpected friends, Daniel survives his devastating youth and emerges stronger for it.
But Daniel’s battles aren’t over. Finally free of his abusive parents, he now must face himself and wrestle with his sexual identity in a community that sees nothing wrong with homophobia.
Candid and compelling, this is a triumphant tale of a young man who walked through the darkness, bravely faced his demons, and against all odds carried the faint light of hope with him every step of the way.

Author Biography

An avid reader of science fiction, horror, and fantasy, Daniel R. Mathews is a novelist and nonfiction writer whose books feature LGBT youth braving danger with honor and dignity, including his personal memoir, The Demons of Plainville, and debut horror novel, The Unseen Kingdom.

For the past two decades, Mathews has worked as a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified ground instructor, meteorologist, and member of the web development and Internet technical support community. He currently lives in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Author Insight

Mind Games - Part 3 (Final)

A recent review of ‘The Demons of Plainville’ began, “Crazy people don't know they're crazy” referring to my mother.
I can understand where the reviewer was coming from because I always questioned my mental state, but my mother never doubted her own sanity. I was always the sick one. But, that’s the plight of any child isn’t it? When you’re young, you have no point of context to differentiate sanity from insanity. Part of this stems from (in my case) some degree of social isolation. With limited friends and adult role models, I was left with only my mother’s words to define right from wrong. Think of someone trapped in a cult, isolated from outside influence or information that furnishes context.
In this excerpt, my mother discovered a little publishing enterprise I had begun at school. She tried to twist the entire thing around and use it against me. However, the effectiveness of her mind games were starting to decrease because a mentor had appeared in my life. He had given me a gift no one else ever had, a belief in myself and an opportunity to become a role model myself. My Scoutmaster had finally furnished that missing context. He believed in me, but forced me to validate that belief to him, my peers and most importantly, myself.

Book Excerpt

The Demons of Plainville

Her eyes narrowed as she searched my face. She tossed the pages on the coffee table, one of the pages slipping off the table and to the floor at my feet. “I found two dollars in change wrapped in this garbage. Where did you get this money?” She jingled the shiny quarters in her hand, holding her palm open for me to examine the evidence.

“The kids at school buy the paper from me. I charge a quarter per copy.”

“You’re selling this garbage in class? Do your teachers know about this?

“What? You are such a fucking pathological liar. What is this lottery you mention?”

“I use half the proceeds from sales and give it to the winner.”

“Oh? So we are gambling now, too.”

She looked at the papers strewn across the table, grabbing the paper with the weather maps on it. “Are these weather maps?”

“Yes, it’s my forecast for the next two days. That is how the idea for the paper began.”

She slammed the paper back on the table. “Well, I suppose everyone at school knows you’re a little faggot now. I know damn well what’s going on here. You are selling drugs to the kids in the school and using this trash for a cover.”

“I’m not selling drugs!” I screamed at her. “It’s only two dollars in change!”

She paused for a moment, needing to regroup. “You take the profits and use them to buy drugs for yourself.”

I threw my hands up in the air. “How do you come up with this stuff?”

“Well, if it’s not drugs, then you stole it. The kids in school would beat the shit out of you if you stole it from them. So it must be the teachers you’re taking it from.”

“None of this money is stolen; it was given to me for the papers.”

“Nobody would pay for this trash.”

I grabbed the papers from the table and clutched them against my chest, tears streaming down my face. “It’s not trash!”

“It does not matter. Either way you will be expelled from Latin Academy when the Principal finds out what you’ve been up to during school. Gambling is illegal in this state. The school could bring the police in and arrest you.”

The last revelation caught me off-guard. I was not aware that someone could go to jail for holding a lottery. She may finally have me.

“Since you will be expelled from the Academy, next year you can look forward to having the crap beaten out of you daily. You know a kid got knifed for his jacket last winter. Yeah, they’re really going to love a little faggot like you. Well, the good news is perhaps someone will finally make a real man of you.”